1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cartridge, magazine more particularly to a cartridge magazine for a firearm for smoothly sending bullets loaded therein into a powder chamber of the firearm while maintaining a horizontal level of the loaded bullets.
2. Description of Prior Art
To conventional military firearms such as M16 and Kn (n=1, 1A, 2, 3 . . . ) series rifles there is applied a cartridge magazine for consecutively and sequentially relaying bullets into a powder chamber. Under the cartridge magazine mechanism, a dent provided in a lower portion of a firearm body and communicating with the powder chamber receives a bullet cartridge loaded with a plurality of bullets such as a 20-bullet set or a 30-bullet set and relays one at a time of the loaded bullets into the powder chamber the moment a barrel end is pulled back and released.
Reference numeral 1 in FIGS. 1 and 2 denotes a conventional cartridge magazine for a firearm, wherein the cartridge magazine 1 includes: a case 2 for receiving bullets and having an open top and closed bottom; a bullet support 3 inserted in the case to move up and down to immediately send a bullet B to a powder chamber of the firearm; and a spring 4 for elastically and upwardly supporting the bullet support 3.
The case 2 is formed to have a top portion thereof open and a bottom thereof closed, wherein each of the side plates and the bottom plate is formed by a plating technique such as a spot welding. An opening 2' is formed to initially receive and prevent from being randomly sprung out therefrom an incoming bullet, wherein a bullet is elastically sent forward the moment a controlling iron is pulled back and released.
A front wall 2a of the case 2 is formed to be horizontally flat. Along the center line of a rear wall 2b there is formed a guiding depression 2c. In a front portion of the bullet support 3 there are formed a pair of extrusions 3a each of which abuts the inner side of the front wall 2a of the case 2. In a rear portion of the bullet support 3 there is formed a guiding extrusion 3b moving along the guiding depression 2c.
Extending from a backwardly eccentric center of a lower surface of the bullet support 3 is a protrusion 3c having a recess 3d punched therein from the front surface of the bullet support 3, into which recess 3d is inserted a static pin 4a bent extending from an upper portion of the spring 4.
A lower end of the spring 4 is contacted to and supported by the bottom plate of the case 2 and an upper end thereof serving as the static pin 4a is inserted into the recess 3d thus to constantly push up the bullet support 3.
In the such a conventional cartridge magazine for a firearm, the bullet support 3 is initially positioned at the top of the opening 2' of the case 2. When a bullet is mounted on the bullet support 3 through the opening 2' and downwardly pushed, the force charged on the bullet support 3 while pushing in the bullet excels the elasticity of the spring 4, whereby the bullet is loaded into the case 2.
During continuous loading of bullets into the case 2, the bullets are sequentially arranged in zigzag while maintaining a horizontal level of the bullets B, and a top bullet is hooked in the opening 2' at the upper portion of the case 2 to thereby prevent the bullet(s) from being seceded.
That is, when a cartridge magazine loaded with bullets B is inserted into a firearm, and a controlling iron is pulled back and released according to a gas pressure occurring during a gunshot, the bullet positioned at the top in the case 2 is elastically sent into the powder chamber. Then, the bullet is forwarded through the barrel of the firearm over to a target.
However, the conventional cartridge magazine has a disadvantage in that the front and rear portion of the bullet support 3 for being contacted to the corresponding front and rear wall of the case 2 is so small and accordingly the restraining force to enable the bullet support 3 to remain horizontal is so weak that the bullet support 3 as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B easily tilts back and forth when bullets are being mounted or during a gunshot.
When the bullet support 3 undesirably tilts, the bullets B sequentially stacked thereon do not maintain a horizontal level so that the front or rear portion of each of the bullets B becomes exposed above the opening 2'. As a result, when the controlling iron is pulled back and released to send a bullet into the powder chamber, there may occur a malfunction such as an unsending, a double sending and an unreceiving of a bullet.
Further, when the bullet B is tiltingly loaded into the case 2, and the controlling iron functions in accordance with the force of a bumper spring provided in the firearm, internal parts of the firearm as well as bullets may lead to unwanted damage, thereby incurring a military budget waste.
Still further, the above-described malfunctioning of the firearm resulting from the cartridge magazine may generate a psychological disorder to combat forces dealing with those firearms, which can in turn cause a lowered military morale and loss of combat forces. Those disadvantages are critical especially to a crooked cartridge magazine as shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein the lower part of the cartridge magazine is forward bent.